Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Frank F. Steel Letters #688-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Received from the Misses Williams of Ridgeway, N.C., before 1940.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Erik D. France, March 1991

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Cottage Home Plantation (Washington County, Miss.)
• Kentucky--Politics and government--1792-1865.
• Ohio--Politics and government--1787-1865.
• Plantation life--Mississippi.
• Plantations--Mississippi--Washington County.
• Secession.
• Sectionalism (United States)
• Slavery--Mississippi.
• Steel, Frank F., fl. 1859-1861.

Frank F. Steel of Ohio was apparently employed as a tutor or contract worker of some sort on a plantation in Mississippi and in Lexington, Ky.

Three letters from Frank F. Steel to Anna Steel at Hillsboro, Ohio. In the first, dated 15 December 1859, he wrote at "Cottage Home," southern Washington County, Miss., about his new situation at a plantation about five miles from the Mississippi River. He mentioned exercising, hunting, and reading, but discussed at greater length the treatment and condition of slaves at "Major Redd's" plantation and in general by plantation owners. He also expressed his "Northern prejudice" against blacks.

In the second letter, dated 8 December 1860, Frank F. Steel wrote at Lexington, Ky., about the concept of one's "sense of duty"; about the South and Southerners, in a sympathetic tone; about the national political crisis and the possibility of secession; and about family and personal matters.

In the third letter, dated 19 August 1861, he wrote at Lexington, Ky., about his attendance at social events in the area; about his sympathy for the South; about his family's sentiments (mostly for the North); and other family matters. His closing signature is followed by the phrase "Rebel Army," and a pencil note below says "1st Ky."